13 November, 2026

 

 

 

 

Target Circular, an Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) project led in Ireland by the Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence at Munster Technological University (MTU), has been selected as one of six finalists in the Interreg Slam 2026-2027, Europe's storytelling competition for Interreg projects.

This year's edition was the largest to date, attracting 71 applications from 25 Interreg programmes. Target Circular is the only finalist from the Northern Periphery and Arctic programme.

Helping the people who help small businesses

Small and medium-sized enterprises are central to Europe's shift towards a circular economy, but many need practical guidance to get started. Target Circular addresses this at the source. Rather than working with individual firms one at a time, the project upskills the business advisors and clusters who support them.

Working with partners in Finland, Norway, and Iceland, the project has equipped advisors with evidence-based methods, strategy mapping tools and a circular economy toolkit. With these, advisors can help their client businesses identify circular opportunities, reduce waste and build more resilient business models. Each advisor who takes part can carry that knowledge to many SMEs, which multiplies the project's impact well beyond the businesses it reaches directly.

From story to screen to stage

As a finalist, the Target Circular team received professional storytelling coaching and full video production support from Interact, the programme that organises the Slam. The resulting video tells the story of how supporting business advisors helps the businesses they work with to thrive.

All six finalist videos are now competing in a public social media vote. The video with the highest level of public support will receive the Interreg Slam Social Media Award.

The competition concludes at the Interreg Knowledge Fair in March 2027, where the finalists will present their stories live in front of policymakers, programme managers and decision-makers from across Europe. Three awards will be presented there: the Interreg Slam Winner, chosen by live audience vote; the European Commission Award; and the Social Media Award.

 

How to vote

Supporting Target Circular takes less than a minute:

 

Like the Target Circular video at this link - 

Share the link with your colleagues and network

 

Target Circular is funded by the Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme 2021-2027. The project brings together partners from Ireland, Finland, Norway, and Iceland to strengthen the capacity of business advisors and clusters to support SMEs in adopting circular economy practices. The Irish partner is the Hincks Centre for Entrepreneurship Excellence at MTU.